Routine & Bike Riding

We are getting back into a routine and schools is going well for both the girls.

Maddy looks so grown up in this little blouse and skinny jeans.  She keeps putting this on to wear to school, but it's still kind of warm for that so she wears it around the house instead.

Last Saturday was a rainy, dreary day.  I was actually super happy about that.  The girls had their first gymnastics class of the fall session Saturday morning.  Camryn was in her own class and Maddy moved up to the Kindergarten class.  The girls seem to continue to enjoy the class and it's so much fun to watch them!

We came home from class and baked homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Then the girls had a friend over to play.  I'm pretty sure the dogs are planning to snatch that cookie right out of Makenna's hands.



They practiced hand stands in the front yard when the weather cleared.



And then Matt and I went out to a movie while mom stayed with the girls for a few hours.



Sunday we had a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese followed by football at a friends house.



I've been working on a puzzle, I LOVE Puzzles, I just can't help it!  Camryn or Maddy will come down to "help".  They both try and help and I love when they do puzzles with me, but then Camryn decides she's going to take apart the puzzle instead of put it together...that isn't cool.



I was working on the puzzle the other afternoon and I was startled by something out of the corner of my eye. Luckily it was just some deer right at our window and not a person haha.



Camryns class went down to the creek at school yesterday.  They made binoculars out of toilet paper rolls and wore old clothes to go down and play in the creek.



Camryn's teacher sent some pictures and I just love this picture of her with a worm.  She loves worms and caterpillars and most recently, moths.  She LOVES moths.  We take the dogs for walks (the dogs are loving that I have a fitbit because we walk so much more now!!) and Camryn looks for moths.  No joke, she looks for moths and then runs into peoples lawn and catches them and carries them home.  The other day they were putting them in Maddy's fairy garden house.  Last night I told Camryn to close her eyes and go to sleep and think of butterflies or the beach or whatever makes her happy and she said "and moths!".





In other big news Maddy started riding her bike with no training wheels this week.  We've tried on and off over the last year and a few days ago she decided it was time, she jumped on, Matt gave her a push and she hasn't looked back sense.  She's doing such a great job!!!  I can really see how she's more and more confident the more she's at school.  She's still quiet when people want to talk to her or neighbors ask her about school, etc. but in her own way she's slowly overcoming that and I'm so proud of her!

First day of Kindergarten and Preschool

Maddy started Kindergarten and Camryn started her 2nd year of preschool on 9/8/15.  I'm not really sure where to start.  I can't believe how quickly time has gone by.  There were a few nights I couldn't sleep, up worrying about how Maddy would adjust.  

The weeks leading up to school were filled with orientation, assessments, a school tour,meeting the SACC (before school care) teachers, and anxiously waiting to find out who her teacher was.  It was a lot to take in and I really should have had more faith in Maddy.  I was so worried while Maddy, a bit hesitant and very aware of all the coming changes, was handling it quite well.

I've known Maddy's teacher since I was about 10 years old and just love her.  I was so happy when I found out who her teacher was, as was Maddy. The only thing was, not a single kid from her preschool ended up in her class.

Maddy expressed her excitement about school starting and seemed really pumped to go.  The first day arrived and we set out to take pictures.

As you can see they took this very seriously :)

We all set off headed for SACC.





As you can probably tell from the pictures this is when a bit of the nerves kicked in.





I took Maddy in to SACC while Matt waited with Cams in the car.  I stepped in to the SACC room and Maddy started crying a little and wouldn't walk in the room.  She eventually grabbed my hand and walked in.  We hugged and said our good-byes.

As soon as I dropped her off I couldn't wait to go pick her back up and hear about her day.  No tears were shed on my end, surprisingly, but I definitely got more and more anxious as the day went out.

We then headed towards preschool to drop Camryn off.  Camryn is such a free spirit, goofy, and confident, but still shy at times.  I feel bad most of our focus was on Kindergarten, but luckily Cams didn't mind.  We took her to school and she leaped right in as if she'd never left.  We both walked her in and dropped off her back pack and she said hi to all the teachers she hadn't seen all summer.  Camryn was so proud to be a big kid, in the Dolphins class (3/4's).  She was telling everyone she was a Dolphin!





When I picked Maddy up at the end of the day she was all smiles.  She had a wonderful day!!!  She said she wanted to go back every day.

While Camryn was less chatty, she seemed to have a good day and was super excited to go back to school the next day.

Both the girls (and Matt and I) are adjusting really well :)

I really need to step back and wonder how we got so fortunate.  Matt and I are so so blessed.  I'm so proud of our girls and so excited for this school year.  I'm sad as we turn every new corner, but at the same time my love for them seems to grow with each day...how is that possible, how can I possibly love them any more tomorrow than I do today?!  I have no idea but it happens.  Maddy is showing so much independence even after these few days at school. She wakes up and brushes her teeth with no arguments and even makes her bed!  Where did this child come from!?  And Camryn, she came home yesterday with a note from the teacher talking about how she really came out of her shell and showed the class her goofy side.  That just made me smile.  I think she's really going to come in to her own this year and while she sure is strong willed and impossible to reason with at times (which I believe will serve her well in life), she is such an amazing little girl, I can't wait to see how much she grows this year!

Gosh I'm just so happy and proud right now.  Here's to an amazing school year and lots more afternoons filled with smiles (I'm sure some won't be, but that's ok too).



Oh and these two are already scheming and planning after school play dates. So Sydney walked home with us yesterday for a play date.





And Camryn specifically requested I take a picture of her with Cash.



Maybe we can just freeze time right now?

Labor Day Weekend

The last weekend before school started was Labor Day Weekend.  We did some things around the house to get ready for school and went for walks and rode bikes.

We had friends over on Sunday and Matt made a giant slip n slide in the back yard.  Check out videos of everyone enjoying it here and here.

Everyone loves the tire swing

We played Kick Ball

We played with chalk, can you tell?





The night before school started :)







Someone must have gotten a hold of my phone...wonder who it could be?

Guilty!